Hello again! The story continues with certain developments concerning one woman still without her memory. As usual, I'd like to thank you all for your continuing support. I'm really happy to see you enjoying the story so much.

"I don't know," the blonde repeated, the shock and worry as clear in her voice as they were in her facial expression. The beeping of the heart monitor quickened as her heart rate spiked. She looked to be on the verge of a panic attack.

"Hey, easy now," Ellie said soothingly, placing her hands on the other woman's shoulders and gently pushing her back down on the pillows. "It's okay. You're still a bit disoriented from the concussion you suffered when you hit your head."

The blonde's hand reached up and probed the bandage covering the wound on her temple. Following Ellie's instructions, she closed her eyes and focused on her breathing until her heart slowed down to its normal rate.

"That's better," commented Devon. "El, you're the neurologist here. What do you think?"

Ellie thought for a moment. "We'll have to wait and see, but it could be a case of focal retrograde amnesia. The head trauma alone would be enough to cause this and combined with everything else…"

Their patient interrupted her. "What everything else? What has happened to me?"

Devon took over. "We think you went swimming or surfing some time yesterday afternoon." He paused and nodded in Chuck's direction. "Chuck here noticed you among the rocks on the Palos Verdes shore this morning."

"You have several bumps, cuts and bruises, as well as a dislocated shoulder, which is back in place now," Ellie said, taking her turn to speak. Since you spent the night in the water, you also had a case of hypothermia. You were really, really lucky to have survived until Chuck saw you on the beach. Another hour or two and it would have been too late."

The blonde looked at Chuck. "I guess I should be thanking you for saving my life."

"Don't mention it," Chuck said modestly. "It was more dumb luck than anything else. I just happened to look your way."

"Well, thanks again anyway. What's next?"

"Try to get some more rest," Ellie told her. "Maybe your memory will return then, maybe not. In any case, I'll touch base with the Lifeguard Service and the LAPD and see if they found anything of yours. Someone may come and talk to you about your accident later today."

"Okay," the woman nodded. Just then, a clearly audible rumble from her stomach reminded them all that she needed to eat.

"I'll have a nurse bring you something," Ellie said. "Contrary to the general rule, the food here is excellent. Devon here once treated the owner of one of the best hotels in LA. He didn't like the food during his stay here, so, when he got discharged, he had his chefs come up with a more palatable menu using the materials available to the hospital – with excellent results."

"By the way, what's on the menu today?" Devon queried.

Ellie checked her watch. "Lunch time is coming up in about an hour, so it's noodle soup with bologna and cheese sandwiches, chef's salad and fruit. There's also an excellent beef stew for dinner." She turned to her patient. "You're not allergic to anything, are you?"

"Um…" she thought for a moment before huffing in frustration. "I can't remember!"

Ellie decided to make a notation on her chart. "I'm putting you down for an allergy test if your memory doesn't come back soon. The nurse will stay with you while you eat, just in case you are allergic to any of the ingredients in the food."

"OK, thanks, Doctor."

"In the meantime, I'll see what I can do to tide you over until lunchtime," Chuck said.

"Thank you, but you don't have to," the blonde said.

"Getting you a pretzel and a coffee from the cafeteria is no big deal. I'll be right back."

Ellie patted the other woman's knee. "That's my little brother," she said. "Always eager to help."

"In that case, does he have any memory recovery tricks up his sleeve?"

Devon chuckled. "He can recover data from damaged or wiped hard drives, but since you're not a computer, I think he won't be able to do much. Sorry."

"It didn't hurt to ask."

"You still need some rest, but later I'll come back with some cognitive tests I'd like you to take. They will determine a few things about you and the extent of your memory loss."

The woman nodded. "What will happen then?"

"We are still waiting to hear from the lifeguards and the LAPD, like I told you earlier."

"With any luck, I'll have a car parked close to a beach and they'll find it, so at least I'll know my name."

"It's a beginning," agreed Ellie. "Assuming, of course, they actually come up with something. I mean, you could have taken the bus to the beach. But we'll cross that bridge when we get to it."

"If you ladies will excuse me, I need to see a couple of my patients," Devon said.

"Do your job, I'll do mine and we'll all be fine," Ellie smiled. She turned to her patient. "Go ahead," she said simply.

"Excuse me?"

"I know the look on your face, sweetie, you have like a million questions to ask. So, shoot." Ellie grinned encouragingly at her.

"Well, yes, I do have questions, but where do I start?"

"It doesn't really matter," shrugged Ellie.

"Still, I don't want to bother you too much."

"Honey, I'm your doctor. You don't have anyone here, so it's kind of my job to answer any and all questions you might have."

Just then, Chuck entered the room, carrying an extra large Styrofoam cup of coffee in a cardboard holder and a paper bag. "Just like I promised, coffee and a pretzel," he smiled at the woman in the hospital bed, handing the items over.

"Thank you," she said gratefully, accepting the items and taking a sip of the coffee. She immediately regretted it. It was black and bitter, far too so for her taste. Fortunately, Chuck had had the presence of mind to put a couple of packets of creamer and a few small packets of sugar in the holder. She stirred in the creamer and added the sugar, stirring the beverage with the plastic swizzle stick he had so thoughtfully provided. Then she tried again. "Mmmm, this is a lot better," she sighed in contentment. "I owe you."

"No you don't," he said. "It's on me." He felt Ellie nudge him with her foot and when he looked at her she gave him a meaningful look. "I think I've interrupted some confidential doctor-patient talk. If you ladies will excuse me, I'll leave you to it."

"No, please don't leave on my account," said the blonde. "Besides, your sister has already told me a few things about my condition. You were here, too."

"Yes, I remember. And I'll stay if you so wish."

"Thank you." She turned to Ellie. "Now, doctor, you mentioned the possibility of focal retrograde amnesia. How long does it usually last?"

"It's impossible to predict," Ellie replied honestly. "Your memory could return, fully or partially, in hours, days, months, years, or… never." She paused, noticing the other woman's disappointment at the vagueness of the reply and the possibility of never regaining her memory. "But I can tell you a few things about you."

The amnesiac woman's face lit up with guarded hope. "I'm all ears."

"When you were brought here, we ran a full battery of tests, including X-rays and MRIs. They were quite informative."

"Go on," she urged Ellie.

"We found a remodeled fracture on your left arm. An orthopedic surgeon postulated that you fell off a bike when you were about ten to twelve years old."

"Unfortunately, it doesn't ring a bell."

"Don't try too hard to remember. I'm just stating facts here."

"OK. Sorry for the interruption, please continue."

"There are also several remodeled microfractures on your arms, hands and feet. They are an indication, together with the robustness of your muscle attachments and your generally excellent physical condition, of intensive physical activity, such as martial arts, rock climbing, swimming…"

"She was wearing top of the line swimwear when Devon and I found her," Chuck pointed out, interrupting his sister. "He said it is usually worn by people who are serious about their exercise."

Ellie smiled and continued like she hadn't been interrupted. "You don't appear to be a smoker or anything more than a casual drinker. There were no traces of any drugs in your blood work either. Aside from your most recent injuries, you are the picture of health."

"But what if I can't remember who I am?"

Chuck cut in, attempting to reassure the woman. "There is the possibility of the police finding something. And then, even if they come up dry, someone is bound to report you missing. At the very least you will learn who you are."

"Now drink your coffee before it gets cold and enjoy your pretzel," Ellie said. "I have to do my rounds, but I'll be back with the cognitive tests we've discussed. Also, try to get some more rest. Come on, Chuck."

"Right behind you," he assured his sister.

"Don't be a stranger," the blonde told him. "The way I see it, I owe you at least one dinner out."

"Since you want me to, I'll come visit you again," he promised.

She gave him a bright smile.

-o-

Langston Graham took a deep breath to steady his nerves before knocking on the door of a hotel room in Baltimore.

"Coming," a voice called out from inside and the door opened to reveal a tall white man in his fifties. He was wearing a nice suit, his graying brown hair was neatly gelled and his blue eyes glinted behind his rimless glasses. His face immediately fell when he recognized Graham. They'd met a long time ago, but it hadn't exactly been pleasant.

"Hello Jack. May I come in?"

"Are you here to do a repeat of our first meeting?" Jack snarked.

"No. Listen, we need to have a serious talk and your doorway is no place for it."

"I've been out of the game for a while, so in all likelihood I can't help you."

"Jack, I'm here for an entirely different reason. In fact, it's about your daughter."

"What has my daughter have to do with the likes of you?"

Graham took another deep breath and spoke: "Back when I first met you, I also met her. She impressed me sufficiently to make her a job offer, which she accepted."

"She came to work for you?" To say that Jack was shocked would be a gross understatement. "Why am I learning of this only now?" Then it dawned on him. "How is she?"

"Jack… Did you hear about the plane crash in the Pacific yesterday?"

"Yeah, I saw it in the news. It was a military plane and… Sarah was on it?"

"I'm afraid so, Jack."

"Where is she?"

"We, um… we don't know. She's missing. There is a massive search still going on, but it's a recovery operation now, not a search and rescue one. I'm afraid she's gone. I'm so sorry, Jack, but considering the circumstances…"

Jack sat heavily down on the bed. "How did this happen? Start at the beginning."

"She came to work for me after graduating from Harvard. She deserved the scholarship she earned there, by the way."

"Sarah was always brilliant academically."

"When she got her degree, she attended our own special school, again graduating at the top of her class. What she did for us is classified, but in this case I can tell you she was part of the team that rescued the hostages in the Philippines."

Jack had heard about the hostage drama and its successful conclusion, but had no idea his baby girl was involved in it. "She was coming home when the plane crashed?" His voice was breaking as he asked the question.

"Yeah… I was going to give them all a nice long vacation. We are going to hold a memorial service for the people we lost in the accident. I will email you the details when everything has been finalized, in case you want to attend."

"We'll see about that."

"I'll be going, then. And, Jack? She was one of my brightest students. Losing her hurts me as much as it hurts you."

"Thanks for coming to tell me in person. I'll let you know if I'll be able to attend."

"You are welcome. Again, you have my sincerest condolences."

When Graham left, Jack picked up the phone and canceled the appointment he'd been about to go to before Graham's visit. Suddenly, a thought hit him. What am I going to tell her mother? It's my fault she got that job. In a way, I'm responsible for her death… For a while, he just sat there, looking at an old picture of him with his daughter. She'd still been in high school back when it was taken and she sported a mouth full of braces, which however in no way diminished the brightness of her smile. The girl in the picture bore a definite resemblance to a woman who was currently a patient of Dr. Eleanor Bartowski… resemblance, as in being a younger version of the amnesiac patient. And there, in the peace and quiet of his hotel room, Jack allowed himself to break down and grieve.

-o-

"Well, girl, you aced every single test," Ellie told her patient. "This tells me you have had a good education, you may have even gone to an Ivy League college."

The blonde – Sarah, but no one including herself knew that yet – toyed with a pen. "Still, it's no use. How can this help us one little bit to find who I am?"

"Look on the bright side. Only your episodic memory was affected. You may not remember anything about your personal history, but you are a fully functioning person. Had your procedural or muscle memory been affected, it would have been a lot worse."

"Worse, how?"

"You could have ended up like Harrison Ford in Regarding Henry."

The blonde gave her a pointed look, but said nothing.

"Right, no episodic memory, sorry… It's about a guy who had to learn how to walk, talk and generally be an adult from scratch after being shot."

"Ouch. That would have been awkward."

"Yep. Being essentially an infant in an adult body is no fun at all, unless you are my little brother and his buddies. I swear they act like toddlers sometimes." Ellie's smile belied her words, though.

"Don't be too hard on your brother. He gave me the impression of being a very nice guy. Plus, he basically saved my life."

Outside the room, a woman in a professional black pantsuit and a white shirt was talking to a nurse, who pointed her to the room where Sarah and Ellie were. She knocked, coming to the attention of the other two women. Sarah sized her up. She was tall, though not as tall as she was, had black hair and her lipstick was a bit too bold for her pale face. She also glimpsed a badge on her hip.

"Hi, I'm Detective Alexis White, LAPD," she said, introducing herself.

"I'm Dr. Eleanor Bartowski, the attending," said Ellie.

"I would introduce myself, but I have no idea who I am," added Sarah.

"That's what I'm here about," said Alexis. "The lifeguards and beach patrols didn't find anything that might belong to you on the beaches within reasonable distance of the Palos Verdes shore. We struck out with the parking lots, too. There were no vehicles left in them from yesterday noon to now."

"Then she must have taken a bus or parked elsewhere," Ellie mused. "What about missing persons reports?"

"You must understand, it's too early for a report to be filed. Of course, if anyone who wishes to report your patient (Alexis scrupulously avoided calling her a Jane Doe) missing and told the front desk officer that she'd gone swimming would have been immediately invited to fill in the report."

"What does this all tell us so far?" Sarah asked.

"There are many possibilities. One, you may be living alone. Two, it's possible that you are running your own business, if you are actually employed."

"She must be," interjected Ellie. "Her swimwear and watch are top of the line."

"Whatever the case, our hands are pretty much tied without a missing persons report. Other than that, the options are quite limited."

"But there are options," said Sarah, latching onto Alexis' words.

Alexis nodded. "I could take your fingerprints and run them through the system. Even if you don't have a criminal record, they might be on file. Also, I'd like to take a picture of you and run it through the DMV database. If you have a California driver's license, we'll find it."

"Those options sound good to me." Sarah nodded in agreement.

"The final option would be to release your photo to the media, with your consent of course, with a request for information on you."

"Is it advisable?" Ellie asked.

Alexis shrugged. "It's what I call the last resort option. There are too many whackos, perverts and con artists out there who might try to take advantage of your patient's situation. It's been used before, but it's not something I would unreservedly recommend."

"I agree with you in keeping it as the very last option," Sarah said.

A knock on the door made all three women look up. A young man holding a potted plant, a get well balloon tied to one of the stems, smiled politely at them. "Flower delivery," he said.

"Who is it from?" Ellie asked.

"There is a card here," Sarah noticed. She plucked it from among the leaves and opened the small envelope. "Unfortunately, something came up at work, so I couldn't deliver those in person. I'm pretty sure you still haven't figured things out, otherwise Ellie would have called to give me the good news and tell me not to worry about you. And since no hospital room looks right without flowers, I took it upon myself to make it happen. Your friend, Chuck." She looked at Ellie, her blue eyes brimming with tears. "Your brother is quite something."

"Sign here please, ma'am," said the delivery guy, holding his clipboard out to Sarah. Before Ellie could intervene, she'd scrawled something on the dotted line.

"Wait, you remembered?" Alexis blurted out.

Only then did Sarah realized what she'd done. "Holy crap," she muttered, awed.

"Muscle memory," exclaimed Ellie and clapped her hands together. "You've signed your name so many times, it's incorporated into your muscle memory," she explained for the benefit of Sarah and Alexis.

"So, she can sign her name without remembering it?"

"Yes, Detective. We were looking for a place to start. Well, we've got one!"

"Be sure to tell Chuck to drop by. His wonderful gesture gave us a lead and I'd like to thank him for it," said Sarah.

Ellie grabbed the clipboard from the delivery guy's hands. They noticed his nametag for the first time. His name was Frank. Alexis also leaned over to look. "Well, your first name is Sarah," Ellie told her patient. She nodded in reply, even though her own name didn't ring a bell.

"I concur," Alexis agreed. "But the last name isn't quite as legible."

"Hm. You're right." She showed it to Sarah.

"Sorry for my chicken scratch," she said contritely.

"Do you mind if we keep this?" Alexis asked Frank.

"I'm not really sure. It's only my second day on the job," he admitted.

"Never mind. I'll just take a picture of it with my phone."

After Frank left, Ellie and Alexis sat on either side of Sarah on the bed, holding Alexis' phone with the signature magnified on the screen. "Let's go over the possibilities," suggested Ellie.